Kun Iam statue to be erected in Reservoir Natural Park

     The government announced yesterday that it will build a large-scale youth adventure camp between Coloane’s Hac Sa Beach and the nearby hillside, featuring various adventure, sports and recreational facilities.

The government said yesterday that it is aiming for the project to be fully completed in 2025, adding that the project is preliminarily budgeted at around 1.6 billion patacas.

The youth adventure camp project announced yesterday will also include the renovation of part of the nearby Hac Sa Reservoir Natural Park, the entrance of which is located on Estrada de Hac Sa, a hillside vehicular road running from the bottom of the hill where the adventure camp will be built.

The renovation will include the erection of a 28-metre-high Kun Iam statue at Hac Sa Reservoir Natural Park.

The youth adventure camp project, including the renovated area of Hac Sa Reservoir Natural Park, will cover a total of around 10 hectares, i.e., 100,000 square metres.

The government held a press conference yesterday to announce details of its youth adventure camp project. The press conference, which was held at the Government Service Centre in Areia Preta, was hosted by Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon and several other senior officials.

According to a Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) statement given out during yesterday’s press conference, the camp, in conjunction with the renovated Hac Sa Reservoir Natural Park, will enable young people to engage in adventures while allowing those of all other ages to enjoy a diverse leisure space.

The statement underlined that the project will enable the government to make good use of a large plot of idle land near Hac Sa Beach.

The area includes previously illegally occupied plots that have been repossessed by the government over recent years.

According to the statement, the camp will be divided into 12 thematic zones, featuring various facilities such as zip wires, an adventure tower, climbing walls, three-dimensional climbing nets, an area for children’s quad bikes, a circuit for mountain bikes, a skatepark, a war game zone, and an area for aquatic games.

In addition, the statement said, the camp will also include a camping site, an area for scientific popularisation, a large lawn for multipurpose activities, and a barbecue pit area, as well as cycle paths and running routes spread throughout the camp.

The project will also include a carpark providing around 200 parking spaces, an activity centre, restaurants, and cafés.

Yesterday’s statement also underlined that various facilities in the nearby Hac Sa Reservoir Natural Park are now in a relatively poor condition as they have been in use for around 30 years, because of which the government will also renovate part of the park.

The statement underlined that a circular platform in Hac Sa Reservoir Natural Park has remained “idle”, because of which the government will convert it into a viewing platform where a Kun Iam statue will be erected.

The statement pointed out that there is currently a hillside path connecting Hac Sa Beach and Estrada de Hac Sa outside the entrance of Hac Sa Reservoir Natural Park. The statement said that the government will build an underpass allowing pedestrians to cross Estrada de Hac Sa outside the entrance of the park safely.

‘Auspicious’ statue

Cheong said during the press conference that the Kun Iam statue will be 28 metres high with a weight of 120 tonnes, adding that the statue would cost around 42 million patacas.

The Kun Iam statue to be set up in Hac Sa Reservoir Natural Park will be the second large-scale Kun Iam statue in Macau, after a large-scale Kun Iam statue was erected on the Nape waterfront in the 1990s.

Cheong said that the government has decided to set up a Kun Iam statue on the currently idle platform in Hac Sa Reservoir Natural Park. He said that it would not be suitable to plant trees on the platform because the location is susceptible to the adverse impact of typhoons.

Cheong said that the Goddess of Kun Iam represents “auspiciousness” in Chinese traditional culture, which he said was “very consistent with the image of Macau as a Lotus Treasure Land”. He underlined that the government believes that a Kun Iam statue in the park will be welcomed by the population in general.

The religious statue will be the second of its kind in Coloane. In the late 1990s, the 19.99-metre A-Ma Statue was erected on Coloane Hill Peak. Kun Iam and A-Ma are Macau’s most popular Chinese tutelary deities. Buddhism and Taoism are Macau’s main religions.

Meanwhile, addressing yesterday’s press conference, IAM Vice President Lo Chi Kin underlined that the various facilities in the youth adventure camp will be completed in phases as the facility will covers a large area. Lo said that for the time being the government is aiming for some of the camp’s facilities to be completed next year and the whole project to be operational in 2025.

Lo said that the whole adventure camp project, including the renovation of part of the nearby Hac Sa Reservoir Natural Park, is preliminarily budgeted at around 1.6 billion patacas.

Ex-Canidrome to become sports park

Meanwhile, yesterday’s press conference also announced details of the government’s ongoing plan to build a sports park, i.e., a park featuring various sports facilities, on the plot of land where the former greyhound racetrack (Yat Yuen Canidrome) is located.

The government announced in 2021 that it had decided to cancel its original plan of building several schools on part of the plot.

According to a separate IAM statement given out during yesterday’s press conference, the sports park project will include the construction of two sports pavilions and a children’s activity centre.

The statement pointed out that the ex-Canidrome plot in Fai Chi Kei covers an area of around 40,000 square metres, adding that the sports park project will have a gross construction area of about 74,000 square metres.

The statement said that the current running track on the plot, as well as the new sports pavilions and children’s activity centre, will be linked by a “three-dimensional” walking system.

According to the statement, the project will include the construction of an underground carpark providing around 450 parking spaces.

Officials at yesterday’s press conference said that the ex-Canidrome’s redevelopment’s budget and construction period would only be announced by the government after the project’s final design is ready. 

This artist’s rendition released by the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) yesterday shows the future youth adventure camp near Coloane’s Hac Sa Beach.

This artist’s rendition released by the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) yesterday shows the future Kun Iam statue in Hac Sa Reservoir Natural Park.